In Search For Missing 8-Year-Old, A Grim Turn

Local police and the FBI continue searching for Relisha Rudd, an 8-year-old girl missing for almost a month from a Washington, D.C., homeless shelter.

FBI

Originally published on March 28, 2014 8:42 am

Washington, D.C., police chief Cathy L. Lanier said Thursday the search for Relisha Rudd, a missing 8-year-old girl, "may be best described as a recovery operation." Lanier's comments suggest authorities fear she is no longer alive.

Earlier this week, the FBI released a Feb. 26 surveillance video showing Relisha and Kahlil Malik Tatum, a 51-year-old janitor at the homeless shelter where Relisha's family lived, in the hallway of a local hotel. Neither one has been seen since.

Relisha went missing from the Washington shelter last month. Her mother, Shamika Young, says she left her daughter in the care of Tatum.

Officials at Relisha's school contacted Young after the girl missed more than 30 days of school. The mother told school officials her daughter was out sick, and the absences had been excused by a "Dr. Tatum."

A counselor at the school referred the case to a social worker at the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency. The social worker arranged to meet "Dr. Tatum" at the homeless shelter and discovered he was a janitor. That same day, March 19, local police initiated a missing-person investigation when Young could not account for her daughter's whereabouts.

Tatum's wife, Andrea Tatum, was found dead in a hotel room the following morning, and police then launched a manhunt spanning several states.